Feb 18, 2026 | History, Industrial Revolution, North American Expansion
The 1860s were a pivotal point not only in the development of the railroad system in the United States, but also in the creation of a modern economy from coast to coast. In the wake of the Civil War, “Reconstruction” occupied the time and attention of much of the...
Nov 6, 2025 | History, North American Expansion
The 19th century was a complex era for the United States, rife with both destruction and construction. By the turn of the 20th century, the country was unrecognizable from its beginnings; it had more than tripled in area, endured four major wars, outlawed slavery, and...
Jul 30, 2025 | History, Industrial Revolution, North American Expansion
The Antebellum Era: A Time of Inferior Materials As the American railroad network was first being laid in the first half of the 19th century, it posed safety risks symptomatic of any new technology. U.S. President Franklin Pierce’s personal tragedy on January 6, 1853,...
Jun 12, 2025 | Benefits & Use, History, North American Expansion
A trestle is the simplest type of three-dimensional construction, but build hundreds—or even thousands—of trestles and you have a trestle structure, a series of repeating triangles that can be shaped into most anything. Like a piece in a child’s set of building...
May 1, 2025 | Benefits & Use, History
Preserving wood with coal-tar creosote, an organic bioproduct of coke and steel manufacturing processes, is a sustainable and efficient way to transform wood into high-performing infrastructure. Creosote naturally distills out of coal at high heats and extends the...
Jul 18, 2024 | Benefits & Use, History, Industrial Revolution
At the turn of the 20th century, innovations in railroad technology spurred the development of new kinds of railroad networks centered around urban areas. These short-line railroads continued to depend on wooden crossties treated and preserved with creosote. And while...
